Pts in the Paint

Fastbreak Pts

Bench Pts

The game was a tightly contested affair for much of the first half. Leon Hargrove (Raleigh, NC / Middle Creek) got Hampden-Sydney on the board first with a dunk on an EMU player on the fastbreak and Khobi Williamson (Norfolk, VA / Maury) followed it up with a layup. Following an Owen Longacre layup, Hargrove converted on a floater, but a Dajon Daniel three-pointer and a Longacre jumper gave the Royals a 7-6 advantage at 17:39. Williamson answered with two free throws to regain the lead for H-SC, but Adam Burroughs made a jumper to take back the lead for EMU at 17:23.

RJ Sims drained a three-pointer, but Williamson and Harrison George (Raleigh, NC / Leesville Road) scored the next six points to make it a 16-12 Tiger advantage less than five minutes in. An 8-2 Eastern Mennonite run in less than two minutes put the Royals back on top, 20-18, with 13:46 left in the half.

Williamson and George stepped up to go on a 7-0 spurt to put H-SC in the lead by five, 25-20, with a highlight Williamson lob dunk from George during the run. Eastern Mennonite battled back as David Falk and Ryan Yates made back-to-back layups to trim the deficit down to 25-24with 9:10 remaining.

Over the next 5:20 of game time, Hampden-Sydney went on a game-changing 20-4 run. Williamson started it off with a layup and drew a charge on the defensive end, then Keegan Wetzel (Mebane, NC / Eastern Alamance) scored a layup of his own. H-SC continued to build the lead by pounding the paint and getting to the free throw line as H-SC made just one three-pointer during the streak but made five layups and five free throws.

With the score standing at 48-30 with 2:27 left, George scored the last eight points of the half for Hampden-Sydney to send the game into intermission with a 56-35 H-SC lead.

The Tigers and the Royals both were hot from the field in the second-half, but each team was able to match the other nearly point-for-point for most of the stanza. With Hampden-Sydney up 85-64 with 6:17 left, Eastern Mennonite began their crawl back in to the game. Owe Longacre score a layup and RJ Simms made two free throws. Following a Mike Murray (Norfolk, VA / Norfolk Christian) free throw, Sims splashed a three pointer to trim the lead down to 86-71 with 5:15 to go.

Each team exchanged three baskets to keep it a 15-point game with 3:56 remaining. Sims scored five of the next six points in the game along with a Yates free throw to make it a nine-point contest with 3:11 left. Williamson responded with a layup, but Sims answered with another trifecta, putting it at an eight-point lead, 94-86, with 2:38. Hampden-Sydney broke the full-court pressure defense, resulting in a Greg Lewis (Mechanicsville, VA / Hanover) layup. Sims stepped up with his third straight three-point basket to trim into the deficit again, 96-89, with 2:09 remaining in the game. That would be the closest the game would get the rest of the way as Hampden-Sydney went 8-8 from the charity stripe in the last two minutes.

George and Williamson were nearly unstoppable in the paint. George finished with a game-high 33 points, going 13-17 from the floor and 6-10 from the free throw line, along with nine rebounds, five assists, and two steals. The 33 points were one off his career best. Williamson posted a career-high 29 points, shooting 8-10 from the field and 13-15 at the charity stripe, with seven caroms. Murray didn't attempt a single field goal, but he still finished with 12 points by shooting 12-15 at the free throw line while adding on five assists. Lewis tacked on eight points, four assists, two steals, and two boards.

The Tigers were on fire all game long, shooting an incredible 32-45 (71.1%) overall, 4-5 (80%) from three, and 36-46 (78.3%) from the free throw line. Eastern Mennonite went 32-66 (48.5%) from the floor, 11-33 (33.3%) from deep range, and 19-30 (63.3%) at the free throw stripe. H-SC outrebounded EMU 35-24, and the Tigers bench proved supreme again, contributing 51 points while the Royal bench had 30.